


What I Learned in Shibuya

by cryptid_cuddler



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: End Game Spoilers, Letters, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-05 22:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17927474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryptid_cuddler/pseuds/cryptid_cuddler
Summary: Neku reflects on his time during the game by writing a letter.





	What I Learned in Shibuya

Noise.

It’s everywhere. There’s no denying it! No use even trying. What’s worse about it is that it doesn’t care what kind of a day you had, what your life’s really like. It doesn’t realize the pounding headache you’ve got, or that your heart is in so many pieces that you’re scared you might lose them. It’s always so loud and stifling, and even when we die, it keeps on going. In the grand scheme of things, our existence really has no bearing on it. Headphones can only muffle the ear-piercing hum of the city sounds around you. Around me. Around all of us. But we learn to deal with it. We find ways to hide: Secluding ourselves from the consuming shrieks of sirens or walking away from the constant blabbing us humans feel the need to do. Not all of us though. A few seem to enjoy the chaos, even thriving off of the drama. Some create it; setting us up like pawns on a chessboard, controlling our every move; burning the canvas when it doesn’t go their way. It’s ridiculous.

We’re not dolls. What right do those people have to pose us, and pull on our strings?! I don’t remember signing any forms that stated someone else could control my fate. Don’t remember ASKING to be apart of that stupid game, either! Then what possessed them… possessed him… to think he could do this to us without hurting us? Without destroying whatever fragile relationships he’d formed with us? Because right from the start... He’d planned everything.

He planned on me getting killed. Planned on me meeting Shiki. Planned her being my entry fee… Everything.. And here I had thought I had actually found a friend, someone I could trust. Someone who trusted me back. I could not have been more wrong… If you know of any way I could have been, be my guest, my ears are open. I’d love any excuse to forget what I had to go through. Now that everything’s said and done, I guess… I’m not bitter about it. Not any of it. I can never forgive him. I hated him, for so long. It hurt so bad to have that new trust be shattered in front of me. The devil’s lips had curled into a smile as I watched the pieces blur, as the tears that I had held back for so long began flowing from my eyes like a river-- like that river. As odd as it may seem, I now know that all the hurting was necessary. The fact I had loved and had opened up enough to get hurt at all is amazing. I needed that, it saved me from the shallow shell of a human I was becoming, who I had been for a very long while.

Now, though, I can trust him. Both him and the others. It’s comforting to know that I can honestly call them my friends. You told me once, to enjoy the moment, regardless of the type of moment it was. I get it now. And I do. I enjoy every moment I’m given. Even during those times I feel like screaming, or digging up those old headphones to block out the world around me; I, instead of moping, start to smile and realize what a gift I’ve been given. I have friends. I live in an amazing city. I’ve met you, you who were always my idol. I’ve loved and lost, but I have lost nothing compared to what my friends had to go through. Regardless, it’s stupid to act like I didn’t have stuff I had to deal with too. Another thing you taught me. Being selfish, nor totally selfless is ok. There’s a balance: you need to care about yourself, but not only about you. I can’t thank you enough for that. 

I guess by writing this letter, this letter I’ll never send, I am just expressing what I never was able to before. The pressure of the world, I don’t carry it alone anymore. I learned I don’t have to, that friends are here for a reason. Life isn’t perfect but that’s how it is supposed to be. I realized, too, that I love the city so much more now. Not just your murals, but the whole city. 

Wanna know why?

It’s the people. The reason I hated it so strongly before… Is the precise reason I love it so much now. It’s where my friends are. Anywhere would be my favorite city, favorite country, might even be my favorite universe as long as they were there with me. We’re getting together a lot lately; as much as we can. We’ll be sure to stop by, ok? 

See ya then.

Neku Sakuraba

**Author's Note:**

> I genuinely have no idea who I was thinking he was addressing this letter to, so I'll leave it up to interpretation. It was therapeutic to write, and I wrote it YEARS ago.


End file.
